The Taoiseach announced the establishment of an independent panel to deal with electronic voting, as the Opposition parties sharply criticised the Government's handling of the issue.
Mr Ahern said the Government understood and agreed with the need to ensure the utmost confidence in the electoral system.
"Therefore, in response to the concerns expressed, we have decided to establish an independent panel to verify secrecy and to deal with the issue of an individual who wishes to abstain and how that might be highlighted."
He added that it meant changing the equipment technically as well as dealing with the tallying information.
Mr Ahern was replying to the Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, who asked if the Government had discovered, at the 12th hour, that introduction of electronic voting required primary legislation.
The Taoiseach said that the Government was going to introduce legislation, but the reason was related to a change of mind. "The right to vote is one of the fundamental rights of our democracy, and because people raised several related issues, I said last week that we would list both inside and outside the House."
He added that there was no constitutional or legal position that said one had to change the law. However, people, both inside and outside the House, had stated that the issue should be treated carefully.
The House later debate a Private Member's motion, tabled by Fine Gael, Labour and the Green Party, calling on the Government to establish an electoral commission to oversee its implementation. The motion, which will be voted on tonight, also calls for the provision of a voter-verified paper audit trail.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, said the parties were moving the motion collectively because of the urgency and gravity of the matter. "This is not a matter of mere technology. What we are debating here is the essence of democracy". He added that a time when one-third of the citizens of the Republic claimed to have no interest in politics, politicians should be cultivating public confidence and participation in the political process, not killing it.
"But with its gung-ho attitude, this Government intends to carry on regardless. Because of what we hope is just political vanity, it is intent on railroading through a system of electronic voting, about which many expert warnings have issued and continue to issue, and about which serious political and public concerns have been raised."
Mr Kenny said that numerous experts had warned that more tests needed to be done before its implementation. There would be no paper trail, he added.
"Cast your vote into the black hole that this Government's version of electronic voting, and you simply hope for the best."
Mr Rabbitte said the Government was in the process of spending €40 million to "to fix something that is not broken, based on no demand for change, no evaluation of flaws with the present system, no indication that the present system had ever produced anything but fair results." The Government, he added, had essentially admitted that its proposal was a shambles.
"For weeks I have been asking the Taoiseach to set out the legal underpinning for electronic voting and counting. Every time I have asked the question I have got a different answer. Statutory instruments were necessary, then they were not, then they were. It has been a bit like a Fianna Fáil version of Lanigan's Ball. Now, at the last minute, the Government says that primary legislation is needed. One would have to wonder if the Government ever got legal advice on this at all before settling on this legal fiasco."
Mr Rabbitte said that by the time the independent commission was established, the local and European elections would be a few weeks away. "How can any such body undertake the necessary task of restoring trust in a process that has been so damaged by the activities of this Government in so short a time?"
The leader of the Green Party, Mr Trevor Sargent, said that many professionals had expressed concern about the system. "The system, as proposed, does not provide for verification, as the voter has no way of knowing if the machine has recorded the vote."
